Brought to Life Before I could Die
by DoubleoTrouble
Summary: Phantom is a zone-born ghost, who has always dreamed of seeing the human world. But when he gets his wish, it comes with a consequence: he's become half-human. Stuck in the middle he has to pick a side. Should he remain with his new-found friends in the human world... or return to his home and all he knows: the ghost zone?
1. Chapter 1

I've never seen what the human world looks like. I've heard it's beautiful. The sky changes colour all the time, and everything's alive. You know, I've heard that everyone walks on the ground. I mean, here we only walk on the ground if it's some huge event or gathering- things get chaotic when there's hundreds of people trying to fly through a single area.

But, I've noticed some people choose to walk, just because. I suppose it's for nostalgia's sake, but I wouldn't know the feeling. I've been around for fourteen years, and I have no idea what the human world is like. I want to go there one day. Maybe humans aren't as bad as some people say they are.

After all, half of the people I know were once human as well, so really, they can't be all bad. Still, the horror stories I've heard of humans tearing us apart for their own amusement, shooting us down, trapping us- not all of it's true, right? There's got to be _some_ good humans.

And, for that logic, I'm obviously shunned. Great. Well, maybe I am naïve- well so what?! I know how to take care of myself. Hell, I've done it all my life.

If only I could find a portal and then I could—

"Hey babypop," Ember Mclain floated up to me breaking my train of thought, "How's things?"

I glanced up at her, "Fine. Things are… fine."

"You still dreaming 'bout seeing the human world?"

"…Maybe."

Ember scoffed, and then sat down on the rock beside me, "It's a waste of time, Phantom. I've been there before and it's really not all that. The air stinks, and people don't even like the right kind of music. You're better off just staying here in the 'zone."

"Yeah. Not like I've heard that a hundred times over by now."

She smirked, "If you're not going to give up then, guess all I can say is don't try anything risky. If you want to go to the human world, just… look for a portal I suppose."

"Easier said than done."

"Well, get doing it if that's what you really want! Who cares if you want to go to the human world if you're not going to do anything but gripe about it? God, you're whiny. Just suck it up." Ember stood up and then faced me, "You're never going to do anything if you don't try, babypop."

I stared up at her, and found I couldn't maintain eye contact, "Yeah… I know."

She shook her head, "No wonder you're ranked so low."

…Of course she had to bring that up. Why does it always come down to rankings? So what if I was ranked as a lower class ghost? So what?! If I wanted to I could… I could take all the ghosts in the zone on! Okay, that was too big of a lie to even tell to _myself_. Fine. I'm weak.

When I didn't respond, she grew bored, and turned to leave. I watched her float away, and sighed. She's right though, I don't try enough. I give up too easily. I lay back down on the rock and stared at the world around me, watched as the colour of the sky ebbed between green and purple.

And still, I couldn't help but wonder… just what the human sky was like. Maybe there was wind, too. There was never any wind in the zone. Maybe I could make some friends in the human world. Ah, and there's that naïveté again. A ghost could never befriend a human; at least that much was hammered into my skull.

But I didn't have any ghost friends either. People just tended to leave me alone. I guess that at first, it would be my appearance. I look more human than most ghosts, with my tan skin and white hair- I mean, I even aged like a human did. Still, that was common with zone-born ghosts. They get to choose what age they want to stay for eternity, but the moment they choose to stop aging, they're stuck whatever age they chose forever.

I still haven't decided, but I probably should soon. I sighed again, and closed my eyes. What was the other reason I didn't have friends?

Oh right. Everything. There's your reason. No one tends to like me, no matter what I do. I've just… never fit in, and I probably never will.

I groaned, and then with a sharp breath, jumped off the floating rock and flew through the zone as fast as I could. What's the point of all this!? Why am I even here? And I'm never going to die, because I'm already dead.

My thoughts seem to dissipate one by one as I flew through the zone. I created a false wind around myself as I flew, and I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. The sounds of the zone seemed to fade away, leaving me in my own little euphoric bubble.

Nothing seemed to matter.

So what if I'd never see the human world?

…it didn't matter. Why should it?

It's just a petty excuse to sound interesting. After all, Ember had talked to me hadn't she? That's all it was… just trying to sound interesting. Maybe make some friends.

And as much as I tried to convince myself that was true, there was still the thought that earth would be so much better than this hellhole. I slowed down my flying, and then floated aimlessly through the air.

"Earth is for the living," I said out loud, repeating the words of Johnny thirteen.

"Why go to earth when I can pummel you here?" That one Skulker told me.

"It's against the rules." Walker.

What was so wrong with earth!? And with this thought, I bumped into something. I turned around to see a large metal cylinder.

"What the…" I began and floated around it. It looked like it could be some ghost's house, but there wasn't any door into it. It was huge though, I could easily fit inside. There were a whole lot of weird switches along the walls, and a few stray bolts lying on what I guessed was the floor. Though with the way things were organized, it was hard to tell.

I noticed a half-eaten sandwich on the floor as well. That… couldn't be right. I knelt down and picked it up. It seemed like it was fresh, too. What was this doing here? I smelt it, and got the distinct scent of hot dog. As I was holding it, I noticed it began to move.

"What the hell!?" I shouted and dropped it just as a piece of hot dog flew out of the sandwich, and tried to bite me. I flailed around trying to keep it from attacking me, and shot a few ecto-blasts. What was this thing!? Some kind of ghost hot-dog? I mean, come on, that's just stupid even for the ghost-zone's standards.

It bit down on my arm, and I finally swatted it away, and shot an ecto-blast at it. It exploded into tiny pieces, which then fell back down on the floor. I grimaced when I saw ectoplasm leaking the sleeve of my jumpsuit where it bit me. Of course.

Could this day get any worse?

I sighed and leaned against the wall, my back pressing a button as I did so.

To put it lightly, I got the answer to my question.

 _ **A/N: What do y'all think? Should I continue?**_


	2. Chapter 2

I couldn't even begin to describe the pain. It felt as if every single nerve in my body was being burned, then electrocuted, frozen, and burned again. I think I remember screaming, but I could hardly hear it over the ringing in my ears. The ectoplasm in my veins felt as though it was on fire. Heat washed over me entirely.

I had shut my eyes the moment the pain began, but I could still see the lights flashing, whites and reds especially. There was a lot of red.

And then, just as abruptly as the pain had begun, it was over. I collapsed on the floor of the cylinder, tears rolling down my face, my eyes still scrunched shut.

After a moment I drew a shaky breath. Oddly enough, the warm feeling didn't pass. It didn't feel bad now, just… strange. My skin was tingling, and I pulled himself up to a sitting position with a groan.

What just happened? I opened my eyes, and blinked a few times as the world came into focus. Everything seemed… a lot brighter. I squinted, shading my eyes with my hand. Where was I? I don't remember seeing this part of the ghost zone before. It looked like some kind of science lab, reminiscent of the different homes of long dead mad scientists.

It was eerily quiet as I stood up and walked out of the cylinder. The moment I did, there was a distinct zapping noise behind me, and I whirled around to find a swirling green portal. I blinked in surprise—hadn't there just been… no it couldn't be, could it?

I ran towards it. Could it actually be a portal?

I looked around, and then flew to the other side of the science lab, trying to fully grasp where I was.

Correction: I tried to fly. The moment I stepped off the ground, instead of flying to the other side, I fell onto the cold floor.

I noticed my hands then. My gloves were a different colour, and on closer examination I realized that my entire suit had inverted its colour scheme. Then my arm. Where the ghost hot-dog had bit me… instead of ectoplasm seeping out of the wound, there was a strange red liquid. What- What the heck was going on?

There was a mirror in the lab, and I quickly ran to it. It wasn't just my suit that was different. My hair had turned black, my glowing green eyes now dull blue—if I didn't know any better, I'd think I was a human.

I almost laughed at the thought. Then, as if to prove to myself that I could, I moved to shoot an ecto-blast at the mirror.

Nothing happened.

I pointed at it again, concentrating my energy and… still nothing. Panic flooded through me. Where- why couldn't I do that?

I tried to turn intangible, invisible, _anything_ , heart sinking when I couldn't. This was impossible. It was literally _impossible!_ I couldn't be human! I was a ghost, I was already dead! Something that's dead can't come to life, for pariah's sake!

But still, this warmth, this feeling deep in my chest I—I put my fingers to my neck… and found a pulse. My heart was beating, even somewhat erratically.

"My heart is beating." I said softly, as if trying to convince myself.

There was no way. Absolutely none. Nope! This was a dream. But then again, ghosts didn't have dreams, we didn't even sleep. I gulped, and took a step away from the mirror.

My eyes darted from object to object in the lab. I picked one up. _Fenton ghost eradicator™._ I looked at a few others, and realized with a start that nearly every item there was meant to hunt down ghosts.

Fear and sick curiosity flooded my brain. So this was the human world… and I was human. No I wasn't. Nope. I glanced at the portal. I knew I should go back right away, but damn if I didn't want to know more about what was happening. What this place was really like.

I held up my hand again, and then pulled off my black glove. I flexed my fingers. My apparently _human_ fingers. But no, I couldn't be. I was _dead._

I glanced once more at the portal. Could I even go back if I was like this though? I leaned against a counter, and a gun fell off the table and onto the floor, shooting out a ball of ectoplasm. I let out a gasp, and dived behind a counter.

I heard someone shout "GHOST!" from the staircase I'd spotted in the lab.

"Jack, sweetie, there aren't any ghosts in the lab. The portal isn't working yet, _remember_?" The second voice sounded as though she'd explained what she'd said a million times. I could hear their footsteps getting closer, and closer… I took a shuddering breath, thankful that I'd hidden.

"Mads, look!" The man said.

"What is it, Ja—oh my god! It's… it's working! How did—Jack, did you do this!?" I peeked behind the counter, watching as a woman in a blue hazmat suit walk up to the portal. She poked a finger at the swirling green vortex.

"Did I?" A man I assumed was named Jack said.

"Oh Jack, now we can move forward with our research! This is amazing!" The woman hugged Jack, facing me. I quickly moved back behind the counter, milliseconds too late.

I heard her voice a moment later, loud and threatening, "Show yourself you manifestation of ectoplasmic scum!"

She was going to kill me. First few minutes in the human world, and already a human was going to kill me. Why didn't I listen to the others? I was only fourteen, too young to die again.

"See, I _told_ you there was a ghost!" Shouted Jack.

I could hear the sound of a gun being loaded, "If you don't show yourself, I'll blast this whole place to pieces!"

I gulped. She'd probably do it too. I glanced at all the weapons and most likely explosive materials in the lab, and then with a shudder stood up. If I was going to be killed, I'd rather do it with some dignity.

I turned to face the two humans, and the woman tilted her head, looking me over before putting her unusually large gun down.

"What's a kid doing in our lab?" Jack asked, and then turned to face me, "What are you doing in our lab?!"

"Wait," I said hesitantly, "Y-you're not going to shoot me?"

"Of course not!" The woman responded, "We'd never hurt _humans_. Now, can you explain what you're doing here or do I have to call your parents? Are you one of the kids Jazz is tutoring?"

 _Jazz?_ I stared at the pair of them in front of me. What they'd said had proved beyond a doubt that I was no longer a ghost.

I was no longer a ghost. Truth be told, I wasn't sure what to do with that knowledge. What happens now? I can't go back. But I can't stay here either, these people, they were dangerous.

"Well? Are you going to answer me?"

I blinked, "I um, I'm… what you said?"

She scoffed, "Jazz is going to get a real talking to. She knows that visitors aren't allowed in the lab! Come on, let's get you upstairs. And might I mention boy, that suit you're wearing is really quite fashionable."

I glanced fleetingly at the portal, before tentatively following the woman as she walked towards the stairs. Me and my damn curiosity. It killed the cat and apparently, it brought me to life.

As I walked up the staircase, it really dawned on me. I was alive. I was _alive_. Excitement flooded through me, and I broke out into a grin. I get to see the human world, and none of the humans are going to try to kill me.

But despite that, I still felt this egging notion that all this was wrong. That I shouldn't have stepped into the cylinder. I shouldn't even be here.

But I was, and I don't think that at that point I could have changed that.

 _ **(A/N: Yes, this is another chapter. However, don't hold your breaths guys, I'm still not sure if I'll make this a full-length story or not ^^))**_


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